


you’re my sugar rush

by neo_gotmyback



Category: NCT (Band)
Genre: Alternate Universe - College/University, Fake Marriage, Fake/Pretend Relationship, Homophobia, I added in some taekai I hope that's okay!, M/M, Mother Hen Qian Kun, Mutual Pining, Not Actually Unrequited Love, Qian Kun is a Mess, but it's for a research project, grad school, ten is a mess, the prompt where they fake being engaged to get to taste wedding cakes, wedding cake tasting
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2021-01-09
Updated: 2021-01-09
Packaged: 2021-03-09 04:42:38
Rating: General Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 8,605
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/27388906
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/neo_gotmyback/pseuds/neo_gotmyback
Summary: “Hypothetically, I need a fake fiancé to check attitudes towards visibly same-sex couples for my project that just got approved.” Kun sighed.Yangyang made a sound like a cackle. Kun winced.“Your life is horrible romcom,” Chenle said, the delight clear in his voice. “Wait, wait explain it in detail so I can update Sicheng ge.”ORKun needs a fiancée, for purely academic reasons. Ten volunteers.
Relationships: Chittaphon Leechaiyapornkul | Ten/Qian Kun, Minor Kim Jongin | Kai/Lee Taemin - Relationship
Comments: 35
Kudos: 331
Collections: NCTV Secret Santa 2020





	you’re my sugar rush

**Author's Note:**

  * For [orangypop](https://archiveofourown.org/users/orangypop/gifts).



> I know I implied I’d do the superhero prompt but that idea kind of… ran away from me and I realized I wouldn’t be able to finish it in time… I’m sorry I hope you like this prompt too! 
> 
> Please ignore all the bullshit about grad school and data collection I am a microbiology major I’m just making all this up. I also don’t know how wedding cake sample tasting goes. I am gay and have imagined my wedding with my crush a lot though… so that’s based on personal experience at least.

Kun blinked, trying to process the– smile? Was that a smile on Professor Kim’s face? He couldn’t be sure, he’d never seen the man make that expression before. He’d been in Dr. Kim’s seminar for almost a whole two semesters now, and the expression of smooth distaste seemed to be almost permanent.

“I love the plan Mr. Qian. The concept needs to be tested across over a broader spectrum, so how would you feel setting up the protocols, since the proposal is yours?” Professor Kim was saying.

What? He was going to get control over this aspect of the research project? He would get to work with Professor Kim? Kun kicked his brain back into gear, forcing himself to answer the Professor’s question. “Oh, yes, yes of course!” 

This data analysis project was in collaboration with some professor in the Queer Studies department, and Kun had had his eye on joining this team his entire graduate school career. His proposal covered data collection, archive research and interviews, a full proper deep dive into queer acceptance as it pertained to individual lives and families, pre- and post- marriage equality. 

While Kun had enjoyed the other projects he’s been involved in, and did truly enjoy TAing for some of his classes, he’d always known he wanted to do something with more human applications, combining data analysis with a real world humanities study, and this project had seemed to align with all of his interests. 

Professor Kim looked up from the papers Kun had handed him, placing them back in the folder and handing them back to him. “Excellent. The basic data collection consent forms should suffice for you and your fiancé, you can find them on the project website. I look forward to working with you, Mr. Qian.”

Kun accepted the files back and shook the Professor’s hand, mostly focused on how well the meeting had gone. He’d gotten permission to create the demo for his specific aspect of the project, and his full proposal had been approved. 

Grad school was all kinds of hell, but at least this one thing had worked out in his favor. 

He wandered out of the narrow hallway tucked into the back of the humanities department, easily making his way through the maze of offices out of the building towards the parking lot. 

He found his car, opening the door and sliding into his seat with a sigh, letting himself finally relax. Kun grinned with fresh excitement. The proposal had gone well– he’d say too smoothly, if he wasn’t afraid to jinx it.

He opened the file, finding the summary he’d laid out. He needed to start reaching out to same sex couples with children, and check the archive for older interviews he could do follow ups on. 

All the other components could get set in motion by sending a few emails and getting permission to dig around in databases to start collecting numbers and older accounts. The section what would take the most effort was checking modern attitudes, but even that could be pretty easily taken care of. 

He checked Professor Kim’s notes, one of his suggestions for how to collect that data circled in red ink, the words _could add a new dimension to the data_ scrawled in the margins. Kun squinted at the print, trying to figure out–

Oh, fuck.

The professor’s words finally registered in Kun’s head. He’d mentioned Kun’s _fiancé_. He thought Kun had a fiancé to collect this data with. He’d recommended the project that would require him to have a fiancé or at least a boyfriend willing to play along. 

Sicheng was going to have the time of his life with this situation, as soon as he found out. 

* * *

As much as he hated to admit it, Kun had gotten himself into this situation, any way he looked at it.

Kun had decided to add in a little throwaway in the section about testing the reception of queer couples in the wedding industry, a small note _have a queer couple request a cake tasting at bakeries known to accept most wedding cake orders_ , something he didn’t think would catch Professor Kim’s attention. 

But it had, and now his professor was under the impression that he had a fiancé, or at least a boyfriend willing to come taste wedding cakes with him. 

Kun groaned aloud, flopped over on his bed in despair.

Who would even be willing to pretend with him? Sicheng was definitely out, he would refuse flat out and probably laugh at him a lot. Xuxi might be willing to help but he wouldn’t exactly be great at pretending to be in love with Kun. He couldn’t even think of asking Doyoung–

Kun shook his head. Was he really entertaining this? To fake a fiancé for an academic project?

There was a slight creak as his door was pushed open, and a voice floated out towards him. “Um– I was going to ask how the proposal went, but I’ll just leave you alone, then.”

Kun propped himself on his elbows, looking towards Ten, his roommate shooting him a concerned look from his place by the door. “Oh, I’m– it went well. I’m just stressed over how I’m going to manage to do this project.”

Ten leaned against the doorframe, a smile appearing on his face. “Oh, come on, you’re just overthinking again. You planned this all out perfectly. Your bitchy professor wouldn’t have approved it unless it was perfect, right?”

Sometimes, Kun envied the way Ten’s brain worked. His best friend was headstrong and self assured, not the type to let himself drown in his own head. Ten was the type to reach out and take things without a second thought, while Kun preferred to take his time, tending to overthink and work himself into situations he didn’t know how to work his way out of. 

“He’s not bitchy–” Kun protested, pulling himself upright so he could look Ten in the eyes. 

Ten rolled his eyes. “Okay fine, your horribly strict professor who never smiles ever– he approved it, right? And you’ve been excited about this forever. It’ll go great.”

Kun smiled, a little. “You’ve got a lot of faith in me.”

“I’ve watched you panic over this proposal for weeks. I trust that energy.” Ten grinned. “Come on, I ordered take out.”

Kun raised an eyebrow. “Where?”

“That chicken place down the road you liked. Come on, just relax for the night!” Ten called over his shoulder.

Kun got up, padding out to their kitchen. Maybe for tonight, he could just forget about figuring out how in the hell he was going to pull this off. He was going to eat chicken with Ten and go to sleep, and hope future Kun could think his way out of this one.

* * *

Kun stared down at his plate of food. It looked pretty good, if he did say so himself. Maybe a little bit too much salt in the broth, but Chenle and Yangyang seemed to be eating it pretty happily, so it couldn’t have been that bad.

He drummed his fingers on the table, eyeing his two little undergraduate terrors carefully. He needed to word this carefully if he was going to get any kind of productive answers out of this conversation.

Chenle glanced up at him, raising a judgmental eyebrow. No baby should be able to judge Kun like this. Chenle couldn’t cook anything that wasn’t instant ramen, he should respect the man who feeds him more.

Chenle set down his chopsticks with a sigh. “Kun ge, what are you so stressed about?”

Kun bit his lip, but Chenle kept looking at him. At this point, Yangyang had also set aside his food, both kids watching him expectantly. 

“Hypothetically,” Kun said, slowly. “If I told you I was engaged to one of my friends, who would you think it was?”

“Ten.” Chenle and Yangyang said at the same time. 

Kun froze. “What?”

“You live with him and he’s always flirting with you.” Chenle said, listing his reasons on his fingers. “Or what I assume gross old people flirting is. You feed him more than you feed us, and he gets away with being obnoxious right to your face.”

“So do you, you brat!” Kun said, indignant. 

“Yeah but we’re just annoying. Ten is flirting,” Yangyang screwed up his mouth in distaste. 

“Are you dating him now? Is that what you’re nervous about?” Chenle asked.

“No, I told you this is hypothetical!” Kun muttered.

“Hypothetically, why do you need to know?” Yangyang asked, rolling his eyes like the brat he is. 

Kun really should not be so fond of these kids. 

“Hypothetically, I need a fake fiancé to check attitudes towards visibly same-sex couples for my project that just got approved.” Kun sighed. 

Yangyang made a sound like a cackle. 

Kun winced. 

“Your life is horrible romcom,” Chenle said, the delight clear in his voice. “Wait, wait explain it in detail so I can update Sicheng ge.”

Kun looked mournfully at his food. This was what he deserved for feeding underclassmen. Now they wouldn’t leave. Like horrible, horrible stray cats that made fun of you all the time and relayed your embarrassing moments to your mean friends. 

This was his fault, for assuming this conversation would go anywhere productive when they’d already been given food. He had no leverage. 

* * *

Kun eyed Ten, who was watching Netflix on their couch, knees tucked into his body in a way that made him look even smaller than he was. He looked comfortable and happy, drowning in a soft sweater and seeming engrossed in the drama playing on the screen. 

Kun judged that this was a good time to ask his question. This Ten was much less likely to laugh at him, or turn him down. 

“Ten?” Kun called. This is a horrible plan, he should not be doing this. 

Ten pulled his earbuds out, looked up at Kun. “Yeah?”

“Would you be interested in free cake?” Kun said, skirting around the actual question. Like a coward. 

Ten’s eyes narrowed as he scrunched his face a little in confusion. “What, like right now? I think it might be too late to go out.” 

“Uh, no, later this week. Remember how my research proposal got approved? There’s this part I’d need someone’s help with and it involves free cake.” Kun tried for a reassuring smile. 

Ten’s face brightened, and he pushed his glasses up further from where they’d slipped down his nose. “Oh, yeah, of course I’ll help! You don’t need to be this weird and nervous, you know I’ll help with all that stuff.”

“No, no I do need to ask because– well the project is data collection on attitudes towards same sex marriage.” Kun took a breath. “So you’d need to pretend we’re engaged.” 

Ten raised an eyebrow. “Isn’t that like. Academic fraud or something?”

Kun blinked. “No, this is just to set up the protocols, so it wouldn’t really be a– wait what? You don’t have any other questions?”

Ten shrugged. “It might be a little weird, but you’ve wanted this project forever, and I’m sure I’m a good enough actor to fake it. It’s whatever, I’m down.”

“Ten what the fuck, you should be more freaked out. I’m more freaked out and I’ve had a week to digest it.” Kun said, eyes wide. Ten didn’t even seem phased, still curled up on the couch with one earbud still in. 

“I mean honestly? It doesn’t seem like that big of a deal. We live together, I know you well enough, and I get free cake, which sounds great. Just let me know when.” Ten flashed him a smile, as blinding as ever, not seeming in the least bit concerned at Kun’s request. 

Kun nodded, a little bit dazed, and Ten went to put his earbud back in.

The whole exchange had taken less than five minutes. Kun emphatically did not trust it. 

Knowing how his life went, something was bound to go wrong at some point. It was only a question of when. 

* * *

When he’d first met Ten, he couldn’t have predicted how much of a fixture how was going to become in his life. 

The International Student’s Association at their university ran on almost zero funding, but still had always managed to put together the best end of finals parties for all the students who were stuck on campus over short breaks. 

Kun, even in undergrad, had never been much for parties, but Sicheng had wanted to go and had asked Kun to go with him, and he’d decided he could afford to unwind for one night. 

Sicheng had soon abandoned him for some friends from the dance team, because performers, even shy ones like Sicheng, couldn’t help showing off when they were a little bit tipsy. 

Kun had been watching the cluster of dancers with amusement and slight apprehension when he’d first seen Ten. He’d clambered onto a table, dancing with seemingly no inhibitions whatsoever, shouting down at the others. 

He’d thought that this personality was a result of the drinks, but, as he found out in the days, months, and years that followed, that was just Ten. He was unapologetic and bright and reckless. If he was too short to be seen in the crowd of dancers, he was going to stand on the table to be seen. 

Later, when the group had migrated off the makeshift dance floor, sweaty and grinning like madmen, Kun had approached Ten with a water bottle. 

Sometimes, Kun thought that if he’d just approached him a little differently, Ten would be something different, something even more in his life. The flap of the butterfly’s wings, as it were, and Kun might have–

Well, those kinds of thoughts were fruitless. 

What happened was that Kun had tossed ten the water bottle with a smile and a compliment for his dance. 

Ten had returned the smile, his own bright and blinding, and the deal was sealed. 

He’d started with regular texts, to Ten teaming up with Sicheng and then wide-eyed freshman Xuxi to tease him, to Kun learning to make Thai recipes Ten missed from home to assuming, when both of them were staying in town after graduation, that they would move in together.

Ten had slotted into place next to him so seamlessly it felt like he was unshakable. Ten would tease, Kun would bicker, and they would always fit right next to each other. 

So why was he so worried about this? 

* * *

The first bakery looked very cute, exactly what Kun would have expected a bakery that mostly made wedding cakes to look like. There were displays of towering white cakes in the windows, and flowers and lace everywhere. The overall atmosphere looked very bright and welcoming, if a little bit too fancy for Kun’s tastes. 

Ten squeezed his hand from where they’d interlaced them, looking up at Kun. “Come on then, _baby_ , no second thoughts!”

Kun wrinkled his nose at the nickname. “You can just call me Kun like you normally do.” 

“What’s the fun in that?” Ten laughed, lifting his right hand to show off the ring on his finger. Rather than actually spending money on a ring, they’d decided to just let Ten pick one from his own rather extensive collection. He’d chosen a simple gold band that looked convincing enough. “Besides, I have this now. If we want them to believe you proposed to me, I can’t just call you by your name.” 

“Plenty of couples don’t use silly nicknames,” Kun protested, trying to fight the pink flushing his cheeks. 

Ten grinned. “Oh come on honey, I’m just getting into character. Let’s go, time to pretend you’re in love with me,” 

With that, Ten started pulling Kun towards the door of the shop. For all his petite form, Ten spent all his free time dancing, and was therefore surprisingly strong, able to easily drag Kun towards the door.

When they entered the shop, a pleasant little bell rang, ostensibly to summon an employee from the back to assist them. While they waited, Ten tightened his grip on Kun’s hand, pressing his body into Kun’s side and looking up at him like he was delighted to be this close to him. 

“Come on, babe, this is the fun part of wedding planning! Smile, we get to eat cake!” Ten said, his voice sweet and happy. Kun blinked at him, smiling despite his nerves at the almost over exaggerated cuteness Ten was exuding. 

“Um–” a voice called, seeming a little bit amused. Kun looked up to see a college age girl standing behind the counter smiling at them. “Hello, welcome to Red Velvet Bakery. Can I help you?”

“I’ve booked a consultation for wedding cakes at five?” Kun said, a little hesitant. “It should be under Qian.”

The girl– Yerim, according to her nametag– nodded, leaning forward to type something into the computer. 

Kun turned to Ten, who was still pressed in next to him, raising one eyebrow in silent question. 

Ten only grinned, snuggling closer into his side. “This will be fun, I promise!”

Before Kun can say anything back, Yerim looked back up at them, smiling. “Everything checks out! I can take you to the room and someone will be with you for the consultation.”

Kun and Ten followed her into a hallway and through a door into a well lit room with a table, comfortable looking chairs, and a vase of flowers by the window.

“Go ahead and sit comfortably, someone will be right with you. Congratulations on the engagement!” Yerim said brightly as she left the room. 

When she’d left, Kun and Ten sat down on the table, Kun anxiously drumming on the table with his fingers. “Ten, how are we going to explain our taking notes on their response?” He hissed, eyes wide. “I didn’t account for that but we can’t just try and remember everything.”

Ten tapped the back of Kun’s hand on the table. “Honestly sometimes you’d think I was the responsible one. I brought this,” Ten said, rummaging into his bag for something. He bit his lip in concentration, working through the clutter in his bag. 

When he drew his hand out, he was holding a small notebook, brown kraft paper pages and a simple binding, like the ones he left around the house and carried in his bag to use as sketchbooks. 

This book, however, was neatly decorated, the words _wedding planning_ written in pretty script on the outside, clearly in Ten’s art style. 

Ten placed the book on the table, the label clearly visible on top. “We can say I’m taking notes on the cake, no one will question it.”

Kun breathed a sigh of quiet relief. “Thank you. I’m sorry I forgot, I feel like I’ve been so scatterbrained over all of this,”

Ten softened a little, rubbing his hand along Kun’s arm, soft and soothing. “Hey, it’s fine, I know how busy you are with everything. I can manage this much.”

Kun let himself relax a little into the touch. “I’m sorry, you shouldn’t have to worry about things like this, that’s not what you agreed to.”

Ten sighed, hand resting at Kun’s shoulder. “I’d rather do this than see you be even more stressed, okay?”

There’s a soft noise from the door to the room, and Kun and Ten both look up at the immaculately dressed woman standing there. She gives them a soft smile, heels clicking over the floor as she made her way over to them. 

Kun stood up, accepting her hand when she held it out to shake, as did Ten. “Hello, I’m Kang Selugi. I hope you weren’t waiting long?”

“No, not at all,” Kun said quickly. “I’m Kun, the booking is under my name?”

“And you can call me Ten,” Ten said, introducing himself smoothly.

Seulgi checked her clipboard carefully before looking back at them. “Wonderful, I do have you down for a consultation. I just have a few questions before we can start the tasting, if that’s alright?”

Kun smiled, a little bit forced, trying to hide the nerves that were bubbling in his stomach. But well, he’d come this far. Too late to turn back now. 

“Yeah, of course!” Ten said brightly, giving her a bright smile, the kind that could charm almost anyone.

When they sat back down, Ten was on his left, pressed in close to him. The other boy’s slim finger interlaced with Kun’s, forcing him to stop fighting with the threads on his clothes. He looked to Ten, who gave him a soft, reassuring smile. 

“Well first thing’s first, congratulations on the engagement.” Her words seemed sincere, not at all uncomfortable or overly professional. 

“Thank you!” Ten piped up, pressing himself even closer into Kun’s side. Kun lifted his hand out of Ten’s grasp, instead bringing it around him to rest at his waist so Ten could sit comfortably. “It’s been a little crazy, but good. Really good.”

Ten turned to look up and Kun, his eyes wildly earnest and a soft look in his eyes, and Kun felt himself melt, even knowing it was all an act. For anyone who didn’t know, Ten must have looked truly in love. 

“That’s almost always how it goes,” Seulgi said. “A lot more details than you expected?”

“Most definitely,” Kun agreed easily, thinking about all the moving parts that were going into his research project and this fake engagement.

“Well, we’ll try to make this go as smooth as possible,” She said, seeming completely warm and earnest. This first location seemed to be an example in the positive category.

“Hear that babe? Painless,” Ten said, giggling. Seulgi smiled a little too, thankfully not seeming offended by the joke. Kun just shook his head, like he always did when Ten teased him. All in good fun, after all.

Seulgi asked some basic questions, all of which they’d prepared for, like when the wedding was, how large the party was going to be, and style choices. 

“You know,” Ten said, biting his lip. “A more traditional style might suit better, right? I have some ideas but I know some people might prefer the aesthetic to be more traditional.”

Kun frowned. “Ten, your tastes matter the most here, don’t make compromises for other people. I know you like color, you showed me all those pictures from your sister’s wedding.”

He turned back to Seulgi. “He liked the more traditional Thai flavors, so if you have anything in that vein we could try? No fruit, but maybe something like coconut?” 

Seulgi made a quick note on her papers, smiling gently at Kun in what looked like approval. “He’s right, you know. It’s your wedding, don’t let anyone else dictate how it’s going to go.”

The cake samples had been delicious, of course, and Kun had bought some cupcakes to take with them when they left the shop, knowing the kids would demand sweets as soon as they showed up at his apartment. 

“Hey,” Ten said into the silence between them as they walked down the sidewalk toward their apartment. “How did you know that?”

“Know what?” Kun asked, furrowing his eyebrows. He didn’t remember what could have prompted the question. 

“The thing about like, Thai weddings? I don’t think I told you that.” Ten’s voice was soft and contemplative, like he’d been thinking about this ever since Kun had mentioned it. 

Kun laughed. “Ten, we’re best friends. You talked about how much you loved looking at pictures from your parents' wedding and you were so excited to talk about Tern’s wedding. I think I know you that well by now.” 

Ten smiled. “Honestly, I didn’t think you’d pay attention.”

“Rude?” Kun said, mock offended, shoving Ten lightly with his shoulder. 

Of course he knew. 

Kun knew that Ten had also always quietly wanted a big wedding. As aloof as he acted, Ten had always been quietly romantic, watching videos of gay couples proposing to each other at the same time and scrolling through threads of queer wedding photoshoots. He’d always wanted a beautiful wedding, and Kun knew him well enough by now. 

He felt the guilt of it resettle in his stomach, that he was taking something away from Ten that might have been important, that he should have been able to have with someone he loved. He didn’t say anything to Ten though, knowing he would just brush him off, insisting that weddings didn’t matter to him. 

“Am I a bad person?” Kun asked, morosely, watching Renjun bite into one of the cupcakes he’d brought home from Red Velvet. 

Yangyang made a sound that might have been a scoff, if his mouth wasn’t also full of cake. 

“Swallow first,” Kun said dryly. 

Yangyang swallowed the bite before looking Kun straight in the eyes. “You’re too boring to be a bad person.” He licked a little bit of frosting off his fingers. “Plus, if you’re a bad person, the rest of us are screwed.”

“Kun ge these cupcakes are really good, you should get married just so we can eat this cake.” Chenle said, who had been the first to discover the cake, and thus the first one finished eating. 

Kun just sighed. 

* * *

The next bakery looked very warm and inviting, more a place college students might come to drink coffee and pretend to study than a place selling wedding cakes. 

Ten grinned as the building came into view, lacing his fingers through Kun’s. “Well, honey, you ready for round two?” 

Kun groaned. “Ten we already tried the nickname thing, can we just drop it now?”

“Nope,” Ten’s smile was devilish. “It worked last time, she didn’t suspect a thing. It’s been tested! Science, Kunnie.”

Kun signed, not bothering to get into the nuances of the scientific method right then, outside a cake shop. “Come on, let’s just get this over with.”

The bell winged cheerily when they walked in, and the secret of coffee and sweets filled the air. It was hard to feel anxious in a place like this, Kun mused. It felt so warm, a place whose only job was to feed you good food and let you have a good time. 

“Welcome to Better Days Bakery,” a voice called from behind the register, and Kun dragged his eyes away from the beautiful display case to look at the man, who was smiling at them.

“Um, I have a consultation booked? Under Qian.” Kun said quickly, subconsciously squeezing Ten’s hand in his nerves. 

The man moved to check something in a book behind the counter before quickly nodding back up at them. “Yes, I’ve got you.”

Kun returned the smile, tentative. 

“A wedding cake tasting, if I’m not mistaken?” The man–Jongin, Kun could see now that he was close enough to read his nametag–said, eyes flicking to Kun and Ten’s joined hands. 

Kun could feel Ten stiffen slightly next to him, muscles tensed, even as he kept his eyes trained on the pastries and cakes in the glass display case.

“Yes, we–” 

Kun was cut off by a man barreling in from the back room of the bakery, two small plastic figures in his hand. “Oh my god Nini is this seriously what they wanted on the cake?”

Ten startled back towards Kun, pressing a little closer to him in surprise. 

“Tae, we have customers,” Jongin hissed. 

Kun squinted at the two figurines in the man’s hand, which looked suspiciously like a bride and groom wearing outrageous cowboy hats.

The man froze, blinking in Kun and Ten’s direction, shaking his hard hair out of his eyes. “Oh, no, I’m so sorry–”

“Taemin?” Ten gasped from next to him. 

The man froze mid-sentence, tilting his head, as if trying to place Ten. 

“It’s been a while but–” Ten started, hesitant.

“Ten!” Taemin said, grinning widely, coming around from behind the counter. “It’s been so long, how have you been?” 

Ten let himself be pulled into a tight hug, a wide grin on his face when he pulled back. 

“Kun, this is Taemin, he worked at that dance studio I told you about, the one that I went to all through high school?” Ten said, and Kun held out his hand to shake. 

“I can’t believe you’re all grown up now Tennie,” Taemin said, a bright smile on his face to match Ten. “What are you doing here?”

Ten shot Kun a nervous glance, then flicked his eyes to their interlocked fingers. 

“Oh, are you here about the wedding cakes?” Taemin said, obviously delighted. 

“Um– yeah, we are actually.” Ten said, slowly. “I thought you still worked at the dance studio though?”

Taemin laughed. “Oh I’m not allowed anywhere near an oven. I’m just keeping my husband company.” He gestured towards Jongin, who had a very soft, amused smile on his face as he watched them. 

At Ten’s obvious confusion, he only giggled again. “We got married in 2015, outside the courthouse as soon as it was legal. I’m always excited when I get to see all of you getting to have proper weddings.”

The look Taemin sent Jongin was affectionate and loving, and something in Kun’s chest ached when he caught it. 

Taemin came along with them to the consultation at Ten’s request, hoping to catch up a little bit. 

“How did you two meet?” Taemin asked, comfortably leaning back in his chair as he watched them. 

Ten wiped some frosting off the corner of his mouth with his thumb, licking it clean. Kun tore his eyes away from the sight, forcing himself to focus on Taemin. 

“We both went to SMU, nearby. We had some friends in common, so I’d seen him at parties before. He was gorgeous, and it’s so hard to look away from when he’s dancing, you know?” Kun said, and Taemin nodded, likely thinking of Ten’s love for dance he’d known when the boy was in high school. “Couldn’t keep my eyes off him. One thing led to another, and well,” 

Kun shrugged, hoping the interpretation would be _and now we’re engaged_ , and not _we’re roommates pretending to be engaged for an academic research project_.

Because not a word of that was technically a lie. Ten was gorgeous when he danced, and Kun hadn’t been able to stop watching. 

Ten wrinkled his nose at him. “You make it seem so clinical. My drunk brain remembers him being very charming when he offered me water that first time. Very handsome, in that sexy nerd kind of way.”

Kun felt something lurch in his chest. It was all true, all too close to what had actually happened, and it left a sour taste on his tongue to turn it into a lie like this.

Kun forced a laugh. “If you want to imagine it that way, I won’t stop you.”

“Nini they’re so cute,” Taemin cooed at his husband, draping his arm around him. Jongin only smiled indulgently, letting his husband be objectively a nuisance while he worked. 

Watching them felt like a cosmic joke on Kun, people who had everything Kun was pretending he was going to have with Ten. By the look in Ten’s eyes, making a mockery of the very thing he wanted to have with someone he loved. 

“Kun, you need to take some of the chocolate cake home for the kids,” Ten said, pointing out the plate he’d just scraped clean. “They’ll love it.”

Kun groaned. “Ten, the point is to get them to _stop_ cleaning out my fridge.”

“Please, we both know you give in to Lele’s sad eyes too easily.” Ten said with a grin. 

“Kids?” Taemin furrowed his eyebrows, confusion evident in his voice.

Ten laughed. “Just a group of college students Kun’s managed to collect. He’s got these motherly instincts or something, he can’t help it.”

Kun opened his mouth to protest, because he was not motherly, they’d talked about this.

“The kind of guy you’d want to start a family with, you know?” Ten said, smile soft as he leaned a bit closer to Kun.

Kun’s mind kind of short-circuited. He looked down at Ten, blinking in shock. Ten said he was– what?

“Yeah, I know exactly what you mean,” Taemin said, but Kun was barely paying attention. It felt like his universe had shifted, slightly, and how he had no idea how to click it back into place again. 

Later, when they’d said their goodbyes to Taemin and Jongin and left with a box of cupcakes and promises to drop by again soon, Kun still felt like something was off. 

“I feel kind of bad?” Ten said, after they’d walked a bit. “They seemed so happy that we were getting married, I don’t know what I’ll tell him if I see him again.”

“Yeah, me too,” Kun said. “It feels kind of wrong. Like we don’t deserve how sweet they were being to us.” 

“Exactly! They’re so in love too,” Ten said, smiling a little at the thought. “I want what they have, some day. It’s been years and they’re still so sweet with each other.”

Kun tried to picture Ten in Taemin’s position, domestic and sweet, still in love five, ten, twenty years down the line. 

Something in his stomach rolled at the thought of watching all of that from the sidelines, of seeing Ten have his happily ever after with someone who wasn’t–

Who wasn’t him.

Oh. 

* * *

Doyoung raised one very, very judgmental eyebrow. 

“So, let me get this straight,” he said, leaning forward and placing his hands flat on the table. “You got fake engaged to Ten, your best friend, who you live with, assuming this could cause no problems in your relationship with him. Then something triggered your long repressed realization that you’re in love with Ten. Congratulations, you’re officially the last person to realize. And now you’re freaking out. That sound about right?”

Kun let out a strangled sound before falling forward onto the table, burying his face in his hands. 

He could hear Taeyong hiss “Don’t be rude!” at Doyoung, but that wasn’t likely to have much of an effect on Doyoung’s blunt nature. 

“At least eat something, Kun,” Taeyong said, voice soft. Taeyong was universally the best person to go to in a crisis. Unfortunately, Taeyong nowadays also came with Doyoung, whose methods were a little bit too direct for Kun’s current very delicate state. 

Kun lifted his head, picking at the noodles on his plate with his chopsticks. It would be rude to leave Taeyong’s cooking uneaten, considering how much it annoyed him when people left his food uneaten.

“I just–” Kun sighed, looking up into Taeyong’s eyes, which might have been a mistake. Lee Taeyong’s concerned eyes could be classified as a deadly weapon. “He’s just always been there, you know? He’s snarky and funny and so damn headstrong, and he spends all his time acting like he doesn’t care even though he really, really does.”

The words poured out of him, the product of the repressed feelings and guilt and confusion that had been eating him up from the inside out. “He makes fun of me all the time but I’ve never felt anything but happier when I talk to him. And I’ve dragged him into this whole mess and now I’ve gone and fallen in love with him and I don’t know what I’m going to do anymore.”

There was a pause as Doyoung and Taeyong absorbed the barrage of words Kun had just presented to them, and Kun mournfully ate some more noodles off his plate. 

Doyoung blinked. “Do you want to drink?”

Taeyong elbowed him in the ribs. 

“Oof– what? It’s a valid question!” Doyoung hissed back. “That was a lot of feelings, I’m going to get hives.”

“Kun, have you considered just talking this through with him? You said yourself he’s a very good friend, I’m sure he’ll be alright with your feelings even if he doesn’t return them.” Taeyong said, gentle. “And that's the worst case scenario. There’s a big chance he feels the same way.”

Kun gave Taeyong a look. “This is Ten we’re talking about. If he felt the same way he’d have told me by now, that’s just always been his style.”

“He probably thinks you’re not interested,” Taeyong said. “The same as you do.”

“I asked him to fake being my fiancé!” Kun cried. “It probably would have come up if it was anything that was on his mind.”

Doyoung, having disappeared to their kitchen, reappeared next to Kun just then, placing a bottle of wine on the table with a thud. “Kun, why do you think he agreed to do this? I wouldn’t have, even if I was single. It would be too weird.” 

Kun groaned, the confusion and worry inside his head starting to make him dizzy. 

He didn’t dare let himself hope, so he took the glass of wine Doyoung offered him, downing it in three gulps. Drunk was safer than hopeful when he was sure to be burned. 

* * *

The third bakery looked very elegant, almost overly so. Instead of the cozy atmosphere of the other two bakeries, this one displayed sleek, modern looking cakes in glass display cases. It was beautiful though, and Ten made an impressed sound as he stared up at it.

“I did not expect this, to be honest.” Ten said. “I feel underdressed.”

Kun glanced at Ten’s outfit, then down at his own clothes, wincing as he compared them to the feeling this building exuded. Ten, at least, looked elegant in everything he wore, his innate grace and eye for design made sure of that. Kun, on the other hand, felt like he should have changed after his classes. 

“The good news is, this is the last one,” Kun said grimly. He ignored the clench in his chest at that thought.

Ten rolled his shoulders back, latching his fingers through Kun’s. “Come on then, babe. Almost done!” 

There was no one at the counter to greet them when they entered, so they sat down on the sleek leather couches, Ten pulling out his phone and fiddling with it one handed, not letting go of Kun’s hand as they waited. There seemed to be a decent amount of business at this time, a couple people sitting at dark oak tables sipping coffee and eating cakes and pastries. 

His eyes caught on a couple students who looked mildly familiar, maybe students in previous classes he’d TAed or that he’d just seen around campus. Their study materials were spread all around them, and suddenly he was inundated with memories of sitting across from Ten at some cafe much cheaper than this one, drinking coffee and trying to muscle past midterms. 

“Kun, oh my god look at this cat!” Ten said suddenly, and Kun’s eyes flicked quickly towards the phone Ten was proffering to him, torn from old memories back into the ridiculous situation he was in. 

“We should adopt a cat,” Ten said, excited. “It would be so nice to have a cat to cuddle with around the apartment.”

Before Kun could dig into the implications of how domestic that idea was, he spotted someone walk up behind the counter, clearly an employee from the uniform. Kun disentangled his fingers from Ten’s, heading towards her. 

“Hello, welcome! How can I help you today?” The girl said in a cheery tone. 

“I have a consultation booked? Under Qian.” Kun said, and the girl smiled, looking down at the screen of appointments she probably had with her. 

Ten came up next to him pressing himself into Kun’s side, clearly trying to keep up the appearance of a loving couple excited to be planning their wedding. 

“Can you spell that?” The girl asked, and Kun gave her the letters to his last name. 

She looked up with a smile again, and her eyes landed on Ten next to him. The pasted on expression froze, and her eyes flicked around nervously. 

“Sir, just to confirm, this is a wedding cake tasting?” She asked, looking very nervous. Kun felt every muscle in his body tense, a resigned sense of foreboding filling him. 

He nodded mutely, and felt Ten’s grip on his arm tighten. The girl muttered something about calling the manager, scurrying off to the back room. 

Ten glanced up at Kun. “What the hell,” he muttered, jaw clenched tight in what Kun recognized as building anger. 

Kun ran a hand down his arm, soothing. It would be alright, everything would be fine, he wanted to say, but it felt like his tongue wouldn’t work, sitting heavy and useless in his mouth. 

The girl returned manager in tow, who smiled icily at them. “I’m sorry about the trouble, but we cannot hold our tasting session for you today. We’re very busy, we can refer you to a list of other bakeries in the area.”

Ten raised an eyebrow, pulling back his shoulders and linking his fingers firmly through Kun’s. “Why did you let us book a session then?”

“We reserve the right to refuse service. Your booking fee will be refunded.” The woman said, her face a cold customer service mask. 

Kun felt his anxiety build. He’d known this might happen, he’d been prepared for it, but it seemed Ten had not. He didn’t want to see Ten hurt.

Ten’s hand gripped tighter around Kun’s, almost to the point of being painful. “Ten, let’s just go,” Kun muttered. This was enough evidence to extrapolate the reason they were being refused service, and enough to make a decent datapoint for his project. 

“May I ask why we are being refused service?” Ten said, his voice increasing in pitch slightly, catching the attention of a few of the patrons sitting around the cafe. Out of the corner of his eye, he saw the two kids he’d recognized start whispering intently to each other.

“Because your… lifestyle conflicts with our values.” The woman said, lips pressed tightly together now in what seemed like distaste, tone detached and matter-of fact. 

Ten blinked, and Kun almost felt him trembling in rage and fear and sadness. “Our lifestyle.” He said, voice deliberately even. “Our very existence is some kind of affront to your values?” 

“Ten–” Kun tried again, wanting to get out before Ten got more upset, before he got hurt. These people could be horrible and cruel and dangerous, and there was no way to know if the people in the cafe would even be on their side. 

“You think that me and my fiancé are an affront to your values because we happen to be two men who love and cherish each other?” Ten’s voice was loud now, catching the attention of all the patrons, most of whom had stopped what they were doing to watch them. “Fuck you and fuck your values. I hope the hatred in your veins poisons you.” 

Ten turned on his heel, pulling Kun with him as he stormed out of the store. Kun was willing to be dragged, even as Ten left the store and headed down the street, the grip on his hand tight like some kind of lifeline. 

When they had made it some ways away from the bakery, Ten whirled around, dropping Kun’s hand to face him, looking him in the eyes, his own still shining with fury. 

“What the hell, Kun!” Ten said, shoving lightly at Kun’s chest. Kun still said nothing, waiting for him. 

“You can’t just– you can’t just take it! You should have said something!” Ten said, voice shaking with emotion. “We deserve the same respect as anyone else!”

At that, Kun noticed how wet Ten’s eyes were, tears ready to spill down his cheeks, and Kun’s heart broke. Ten was so, so strong, he shouldn’t have to be broken because of the hatred some people hold in this world, spewing their poison onto him just to have someone to hate. 

“Oh, no, Ten–” Kun said, gently wrapping his arms around him. Ten leans into the touch, pressing himself into Kun’s chest, the first sobs shaking his whole frame. 

“Ten, none of those people are worth putting yourself in danger for.” Kun said, hand gently stroking Ten’s soft hair. “Their opinion means nothing so long as you’re safe.”

When Ten didn’t reply, Kun continued. “There will always be people like them. My own fucking family didn’t love me enough to stay. It’s fine, Ten. The people who stay? Those are the ones that matter.”

His family was one he chose, Sicheng and Xuxi and Taeyong and Doyoung, friends who'd been there where blood had failed him, and Chenle, Yangyang, Renjun, those kids who he'd do anything for and who loved him, in their own way. All of those people mattered, because they stayed. Ten mattered, because Ten had always stayed, would always stay, would always have a smile waiting for him, would remember what takeout order he liked best, would be willing to go along with his ridiculous scheme for his project, would always fight to keep everyone around him happy and safe.

Ten pushed away from the hug, leaning back to look at Kun. He pressed his palm to Kun’s cheek, holding Kun’s gaze in place. “They never deserved you.” The heat is still there in his voice when he said it, a desperate something in his voice. 

When Kun only blinked, Ten repeated it, more forceful this time. “They never deserved you. You are so, so loved, Kun, you’re so easy to love. You’re so good. All of those kids, our friends, they all love you so fucking much, do you get that?”

Ten’s voice wavered as the sobs building in his chest choked him. “Everyone you meet must fall in love with you, just a little. Your pathetic excuse for a family never deserved you.”

There’s silence after that, something tangible hanging in the air between them, Kun’s arm’s still wrapped around Ten and Ten’s palm still soft against Kun’s cheek.

There was an awkward cough from behind Kun, and it broke the suspended state they were in, expanding the world to include other things and other people again. Ten took a step back, drawing his hand back, and Kun mourned the loss of it.

He turned to see the two kids he’d spotted at the cafe, the one with the longer dark hair standing in front of his friend, both looking awkwardly at Kun and Ten’s feet. 

“Can we help you?” Kun said, trying to focus on them, quickly trying to assess their intentions. 

“We just– um–” the first kid said, fidgeting with his fingers. “Well, I’m Guanheng and this is Dejun and we were just in the bakery?” The dark haired kid–Guanheng–said. 

After a brief silence, Dejun quickly lifted his hand to show his phone. “We have a recording of what happened!” He burst out. He blushed, and lowered his hand. “In case– in case you wanted proof?”

“And we’ll post about this on campus social media! Not using the video of course but just so SMU kids know to avoid this place from now on.” Guanheng frowned. “No one will want to spend money here once they know how gross they are.”

Kun nodded slowly, processing the barrage of information they’d just been given. “Thank you, the video would be helpful to have, just in case.” He pulled out his own phone, Ten trailing after him. He inputted his number into Dejun’s phone, and the clip of their conversation was quickly sent over.

“I’m really sorry that happened.” Guanheng said, voice soft. “I–”

Dejun’s hand came to rest on his shoulder, clearing a practiced gesture, comforting. 

“What you two have seems– amazing. I hope I can have something like that some day.” The end of the sentence was swallowed as he looked down, clearly shy.

Ten reached out, putting a hand on his arm, giving him a shaky smile. “You will,” Ten said, voice hoarse with tears but full of conviction. “There might be days when you think you won’t but I promise, you will.”

And it sounded like advice Ten was giving to a younger version of himself, not as confident or happy as he’d pretended to be, but determined to press on through life because of the hope, the chance at the end of the tunnel. 

Kun can’t stop watching Ten, marveling at everything he was, unafraid of the world and willing to fight for his happiness. He was beautiful. 

When the two boys had left, Ten turned to look at Kun, raising one eyebrow quizzically. “What?”

Kun swallowed, feeling something buzzing in his fingertips. Guanheng said he wanted what they had, some day. Kun had this, within his grasp, and like a fool, he was going to let it slip between his fingers. 

“When you said everyone I meet falls a little in love with me,” Kun said, voice breathy and careful. “What did you mean?”

Kun saw Ten exhale, his eyes shining with some hurt Kun couldn’t really decipher. “You have to know.”

Kun shook his head. “Please, Ten.” His voice broke a little bit on his name. “Please tell me, I don’t know.”

Ten laughed, hoarse and bitter. “I’m in love with you, of course.”

Kun felt something ringing in his ears, his brain trying to process what he’d just heard. 

“God, and I did this whole thing with you because I thought might as well get to live out these useless fantasies before you get married to someone you love, and then this shit happened and I probably ruined things for you.” Ten stumbled a little backwards, away from Kun. 

Ten looked at Kun, watching him intensely. “Please, Kun, say something.” Ten said, voice small. 

“Kiss me.”

Kun blinked, not having planned to say that particular thought out loud. 

“What?” Ten said, clearly just as surprised. 

Kun shook his head to clear out the ringing. “Sorry, I just meant– fuck. So you didn’t mind doing all of this with me?”

“I– no, it wasn’t– Qian Kun, what the hell did you mean?” Ten said, his voice getting louder. 

“I’m in love with you too.” Kun said, quiet, watching Ten’s face for his reaction. “I was so worried that I was taking all of this fairytale stuff away from you but then I realized the thought of you getting married to anyone else made me sick to my stomach, because I wanted this all to be real.”

“God, I’ve loved you for all of these years, and all I had to do was fake being engaged to you for a week?” Ten said, false annoyance contrasting with the bright grin spreading across his face.

His eyes were red from crying and there were tear tracks on his cheeks, and Kun thought he looked beautiful. It was a real smile, the kind that could bring down the heavens. 

He told Ten as much, and the grin widened. “You’re such a sap,” Ten said, drawing Kun closer to him. 

Kissing was hard with both of them grinning so much, but it’s okay. This was just the first, they had all the time they needed. 

* * *

(Yangyang had seen them trading soft kisses the next time he’d broken into Kun’s apartment. He’d fake gagged so hard he scared Ten, and they were informed via group text that Sicheng had won the bet over how long into their fake engagement it would take them to realize they were in love with each other.)

(Kun let it slide. He had a cute boyfriend and a successful project proposal. He was doing just fine.) 

**Author's Note:**

> The celebrities' names/images are merely borrowed and do not represent who the celebrities are in real life! Remember to separate fiction from reality folks!
> 
> -
> 
> To my secret Santa, I hope you enjoyed this fic and it holds up to what you asked for! Also I promise I'm working on that superhero fic because I got very, very inspired... And for everyone else, thank you so much for reading!


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